Most of the boats are in the water so the boat yard finally got to my shaft project.
You may recall:
My marina's service crew is more experienced with fishing boats than sailboats. They broke the 1 1/4 bronze drive shaft when attempting to pull the prop off to replace the cutlass bearing. At that point the Marina manager and I decided to haul the boat 30 miles north to a big time boat yard.
I have a buddy with a 39 that is one digit off from my hull number. The boats were born side by side at the factory. He is a long time boat mechanic and has actually replaced the transmission in my boat many years ago.
He told me to cut the shaft to and replace with Stainless but I thought I could get by with just replacing the cutlass. When they broke the shaft, my choice was clear and now partially funded by the Marina.
The pros started work Monday. I was working at the bow. I told them my mentor said to cut the shaft. They insisted on trying to bang it out with the sliders. Five minutes later they went for the sawsall. It took 5 minutes and everything was out.
The prop was pressed out with a five ton press, the coupling did not budge using the same press. The couplings are cheap I would not have had them Re-install it anyway. So much for the theory that bronze will not seize with steel. My guess is that the steel coupling rusted so much it clamped down on the bronze. A bit of heat would have loosened it but torches, confined spaces, lots of penetrating oil do not mix. Cutting the shaft and unbolting the coupling from the transmission was the way to go.
As my mentor predicted , the shaft was badly worn where the packing tightened around it. The mechanic said it would never last and would have been a recurring project.
The shaft is will cost me $700 from the boat yard. I know from my buddies at the stainless factory the cost from a machine shop is $300. I can't deny the boat yard the mark-up. They will install a PSS drip-less seal so I'm hoping for a dry bilge when the boat goes back in the water.
I am installing a free fall windlass in the anchor locker. It's made by power winch and is only $600 for a winch that can pull 900#, enough for the 39.
That is a fraction of the cost of a lewmar or other windlasses.
I'll send take photos and post more info soon.
You may recall:
My marina's service crew is more experienced with fishing boats than sailboats. They broke the 1 1/4 bronze drive shaft when attempting to pull the prop off to replace the cutlass bearing. At that point the Marina manager and I decided to haul the boat 30 miles north to a big time boat yard.
I have a buddy with a 39 that is one digit off from my hull number. The boats were born side by side at the factory. He is a long time boat mechanic and has actually replaced the transmission in my boat many years ago.
He told me to cut the shaft to and replace with Stainless but I thought I could get by with just replacing the cutlass. When they broke the shaft, my choice was clear and now partially funded by the Marina.
The pros started work Monday. I was working at the bow. I told them my mentor said to cut the shaft. They insisted on trying to bang it out with the sliders. Five minutes later they went for the sawsall. It took 5 minutes and everything was out.
The prop was pressed out with a five ton press, the coupling did not budge using the same press. The couplings are cheap I would not have had them Re-install it anyway. So much for the theory that bronze will not seize with steel. My guess is that the steel coupling rusted so much it clamped down on the bronze. A bit of heat would have loosened it but torches, confined spaces, lots of penetrating oil do not mix. Cutting the shaft and unbolting the coupling from the transmission was the way to go.
As my mentor predicted , the shaft was badly worn where the packing tightened around it. The mechanic said it would never last and would have been a recurring project.
The shaft is will cost me $700 from the boat yard. I know from my buddies at the stainless factory the cost from a machine shop is $300. I can't deny the boat yard the mark-up. They will install a PSS drip-less seal so I'm hoping for a dry bilge when the boat goes back in the water.
I am installing a free fall windlass in the anchor locker. It's made by power winch and is only $600 for a winch that can pull 900#, enough for the 39.
That is a fraction of the cost of a lewmar or other windlasses.
I'll send take photos and post more info soon.
